Relaxing Friday Music Video, But First Some Links

I wanted to include a few links with this week's music video, but the links grew in number and my commentary grew in wordiness, so now there is a pretty long post! So check out 1) General Links, 2) Links on the famine in East Africa, 3) Madagascar links... or just skip ahead to 4) Samoela music video. Happy Weekend!

1) General Links:
Lil' Miss FDR?

The trustworthiness of beards. I'd like to point out that, in the last 3+ years, I have run the gamut from Very Trustworthy to Unsavory/Threatening...

Australian Broadcasting's 1986 satire on Colonialism

2) Links on the Famine in East Africa

How bad is the famine in the Horn of Africa? Check out theEconomist’s video/map

Whose fault is it?

Jeffrey Sachs(*) places at least some of the blame on thewest, and paints the issue as more than a humanitarian crisis – it is also a security crisis, and in order to ensure the region’s short-term survival and long-term stability, investment in sustainable development is needed.

On the other hand, Ken Opalo places much of the blame on thepoor leadership of the countries affected by the famine. As he says: “Blaming western colonialism, neocolonialism, climate change, etc are nothing but distractions. This problem and many other African problems are for the most part just that, African problems.”

Want to do something? Here is a list of the charitiesworking in the area 

(*) = Full disclosure: I will be studying under Sachs in my graduate program beginning this fall

3) Madagascar Links
Is it time to lift the economic sanctions imposed on the Malagasy transitional regime? A UN expert warns that the sanctions are worsening hunger (and not affecting the regime) -

"The result is that Madagascar today has one of the highest levels of child malnutrition in the world, with levels comparable to those of Afghanistan or Yemen." 

Check out the article, especially the last few paragraphs which point out the promising developments prior to the crisis (foreign investment, land certification, and an SRI shout-out!) and how they have been stunted by the never-ending "transition." And as I was speaking of my Professor-to-be and his article above (section 2), I want to quote him on economic sanctions (from his book The End of Poverty): "These sanctions may aim to weaken or topple a despicable regime, but often they simply impoverish the population of the targeted country without toppling the regime."

Is Madagascar at risk of becoming a major drugs hub? 

And a few interesting links from Tananews (note: their site is in French, but you can paste the links in Google Translate) -
Eyewitnesses in Tulear say the students at the University of Tulear are on strike. They demand the departure of the President of the University, and (translated via google) -

So this morning the students took hostage:
1) the DAF at the University
2) the cashier of the University
Later, accompanied by two people, they are routed to the home of vice president of the university. Where they have taken hostage the wife and children of the latter.

I do want to point out that I expect that episode to end peacefully, as Malagasy do not (usually) condone violence to meet their demands. But for updates check out Tananews (since I do not see any reports of it from other sources)
Tananews also has obtained a report (apparently from a World Bank-sponsored CAI report, although I cannot find the report online yet) detailing the extent of the rosewood trafficking: how much has been smuggled out and where it is going (98% to China).

4) Samoela Music Video: Samoela's "Hafaliana" was one of the biggest songs over the past year; you heard it everywhere. It's a nice laid back jam. The main line, "Hafaliana foana tsiky lava ny miaraka aminao" means basically: "I always have a big smile / am happy whenever I am with you"